How many "regular students" do you see 70,000 - 100,000 paying customers filing into enormous stadiums so they can watch those students study history or economics or engineering or law?

How many of those "regular students" have ESPN or Fox Sports or the major networks camping out in their labs or classrooms or study halls so they can broadcast closeups and slo-mo's of them writing term papers or conducting lab experiments...??

How many of those "regular students" have whole segments of this very msg board dedicated to watching their every performance or reviewing their every test score so they can predict which corporate firm will "draft them"?

Not special??

I'm guessing you forgot the sarcasm smiley didn't you?

I dont give a damn who these kids are, our if they fill seats at a stadium. Tell me which is helpful to society. A Doctor, physcologist, Vet, Teacher or a Damn football player ???

And by the way these kids are only "special" because people like us make them appear "special".

__________________
"Oh, yes, and one more thing, dear Lord — about our enemies? Ignore their heathen prayers and help us blow those little bastards straight to hell. Amen again."

Not picking on you, Ellis, but I see/hear this argument all the time. I always tell people to think about that in reverse. If they aren't special, then why the hell are they getting an education just because they can play a game really well? Maybe I play tiddlywinks really well, but no one offered me a free education.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr teX

While this is true, as the saying goes, a bird in the hand is worth 2 in the bush & these kids don't have the foresight to see that.

I don't have a problem with the acknowledgement that an education may well be worth far more than whatever compensation they receive immediately, philosophy degrees notwithstanding. But forcing people to take pay in the commodity of your choice is not something I can get with. As I said upthread, this was the genesis of currency in civilization - convertible commodities.

If the kids want to skip college, I'm OK with making more room for scientists, mathematicians, etc.

__________________Hey O'Brien: "How do you tell a guy who is used to catching 80 balls a year that he was going to catch 40?"... You jackass.

I dont give a damn who these kids are, our if they fill seats at a stadium. Tell me which is helpful to society. A Doctor, physcologist, Vet, Teacher or a Damn football player ???

And by the way these kids are only "special" because people like us make them appear "special".

How much money do those kids out on the field bring into the university that produces the doctors, lawyers vets and teachers?

More than that though, if you're 18-20ish and someone offers you money on the side who can say they honestly wouldn't take it? How many people really believe that any star player isn't taking money? They all are.

How much money do those kids out on the field bring into the university that produces the doctors, lawyers vets and teachers?

More than that though, if you're 18-20ish and someone offers you money on the side who can say they honestly wouldn't take it? How many people really believe that any star player isn't taking money? They all are.

Mike

So none of these kids pay to go to school, the athletes pay for everyones schooling haha

__________________
"Oh, yes, and one more thing, dear Lord — about our enemies? Ignore their heathen prayers and help us blow those little bastards straight to hell. Amen again."

How much money do those kids out on the field bring into the university that produces the doctors, lawyers vets and teachers?

More than that though, if you're 18-20ish and someone offers you money on the side who can say they honestly wouldn't take it? How many people really believe that any star player isn't taking money? They all are.

Mike

Not saying i would turn it down either, but i dont agree that these kids need special money hand outs because they play NCAA football like some people are trying to claim.

__________________
"Oh, yes, and one more thing, dear Lord — about our enemies? Ignore their heathen prayers and help us blow those little bastards straight to hell. Amen again."

Tennessee vice chancellor and director of athletics Dave Hart in a statement in response to Texans RB Arian Foster saying he received money while playing for the Volunteers: "We can't speak to something that allegedly happened a long time ago. What we can say is that the values and priorities or our athletics department and our football program are aligned, and the constant education of our student-athletes regarding the rules and the consequences of their choices is of the highest priority."

Sigh.. Arian.. You would think he would be more "psychological" about this and move on. I'm tired of him whining about how hard he had, how he was disrespected.. Good god get over it and move on.

Players receive full ride degrees, room, board, food, books, etc. That adds up to a ton of money, depending on the school that can be upwards of 150k+ for schools.

Get over it move on, and deal with it. I find it hard to believe NCAA athletes at a large SEC school would starve on the weekend. Maybe he partied and drank all his money up in beer? Now that I would have and did do.

__________________
Vance Joseph I was wrong, enjoying the slice of humble pie I've been served.

So none of these kids pay to go to school, the athletes pay for everyones schooling haha

Yeah, you're right. It isn't like UT brings in 37 million from football. How many students do you think would have to attend to pay that much money? Now throw in the money from the alumni and the football program is paying for a ton of stuff.

Might as well separate the NCAAF from the colleges all together. Turn it into a "minor-league" system that it is & pay these athletes.

From a most ethical standpoint you are correct. The current system benefits the NCAA and NFL directly and those student -athletes who value education (no matter when they understand the idea of value). the people most destroyed by this system are those who are not good students or just don't value formal education. At least in baseball (smaller extent) basketball, there are options to pursue for those guys ( or for those guys who are so good that they don't need to stay in college as an academic fraud 3/4 years).

__________________It doesn't just seem like I was talking down to people, I was. (Runner 8/4/09).

I was listening to a RC Slocum interview on 1560 AM The Game, and during the conversation I heard Texas A&M received $740 million dollars in recent donations and pledges during the past year? It's hard to pinpoint how much exactly the football program is responsible for earning the University, but I'm sure it was a hefty percentage. You don't just increase by $300 million out of the blue. Not even the University of Texas in Austin has raised $740 million in one year.

That's a crazy amount for any University to haul in. The least they can do is pay student athletes a couple hundred bucks to buy some groceries for the week? I can't blame Johnny Manziel if he made a lot of profit signing his autographs on various items. Texas A&M sure isn't going to apologize for marketing him as a cash cow.

But that being said, it's understandable why Arian Foster accepted the money in college. He really needed it. I think Johnny Manziel comes from a rich family so his case is a little different.

Savannah State is a 60-point underdog for the third time in less than two seasons

If you need an example of a college football team willing to get mauled for a significant payday, look no further than Savannah State.

The Tigers are 60 point underdogs to Miami on Saturday, the third time they've been on the wrong side of a 60 point (or more) point spread since 2012.

Last season, Savannah State opened against Oklahoma State and the line on that game was a whopping 65.5 points before kickoff. Oklahoma State covered easily, 84-0. So the following week, Savannah State was even a bigger underdog against Florida State.

That line opened at 70 points and went down to a meager 65 by kickoff. But Savannah State covered this time, only losing to Florida State 55-0. The line against Miami Saturday opened at 55, but quickly shot up to 60 points.

Will Miami score at least 60 points to cover? They haven't scored over 60 since 2002. Your best play may be with Savannah State.

For both games last season, Savannah State took home $860,000. It'll make $375,000 against Miami. That's over $1 million for three likely blowouts. Given how hard it can be to balance an athletic budget at a school in the FCS, you can't blame Savannah State for taking the large paydays when they present themselves, can you?

Just for grins I'm taking Miami -60. I'm not really betting due to my horrible luck when money is on the table, but just for grins.